posted 21 December 2019 05:35 PM EDT (US)
Hello community, I'm introducing myself and a new mod project that I'm starting.
I have always thought american civilizations could make a good adition to the AOM universe, I have found many threads in different communities asking for them, however no one has ever made a mod adding them. And I have also found a lot of people that opposes to the addition of american civilizations. I agree they don't exactly fit into the classical AOM world with all of the old world ancient cultures. But I think they really deserve a world of their own, so that is were this mod projcet starts.
The Return of the Gods is a new total conversion free mod project for Age of Mythology and its expansions. The mod will intend to create a world for the ancient american civilizations, portraying their history, ways of life, customs, beliefs, warfare and of course, mythology.
The world of Return of the Gods will come to life through new civilizations, units, random maps, campaigns and gameplay features. Some of this features have been based on already existing features from AOM and AOE, and some others are completely new.
it will also include changes on the gameplay for these cultures, here are some of the main general in game features, this may change in the future:
There will be no cavalry, but certain units will replace cavalry roles, this units will be classified as runners and they will be fast moving infantry soldiers with good attack against light infantry but almost no armor making them vulnerable to heavy infantry. They will be similar to eagle warriors in AOE II or coyote runners in AOE III.
A new building will exist for American cultures, the palace, this building will allow the research of specialized techs and units. It could also serve as a kind of fortification to garrison units and throw arrows to the enemy.
Most American cultures won’t have fortresses or castles available, however siege warfare won’t be as developed either. All cultures will share the same siege units which will be siege rams and mantlets. Most civilizations will also share the same naval units, which will be fishing canoes, canoes and war canoes.
So far 3 new civilizations have been planmed, each one of them with major and minor Gods, mythical units and technologies, unique units and technologies and gameplay features.
•Aztecs
•Mayans
•Incas
Here is a brief description of the civilizations, again this is not definitve and may change:
The Aztecs will be the most warlike civilization, their strategy will be essentially rush and aggressive. This focus will be boosted through culture and major God features.
They will train military units from two main buildings: the Telpochcalli (commoners’ barracks) and the Calmecac (noble’s academy). The first one will allow to create cheap fast training units to be used during the early stages of the game. The second one will create more specialized but also expensive noble knight and priest units. In addition, each major god will grant a unique unit in the final age just as the Greek major gods, major gods will also grant different military bonuses.
The Aztecs will generate favor like the Norse by doing war; a more accurate way to gain favor would be by capturing enemy units and then sacrificing them. However, I’m not sure this kind of mechanic can exist in game, so for now we will just keep it simple by doing war but this could change in the future.
The Aztecs will have a unique hero which will be the Huey Tlatoani (great speaker), he will be the leader of the nation and will grant military and development favors similar to the Egyptian pharaoh, however, unlike the pharaoh the tlatoani wont grant economic favor. On the other hand, he will boost military aspects, such as constructing buildings, training units faster and making them cheaper while he grants favors to a specific military building. The tlatoani will also boost nearby human warriors in combat and increase the favor generation rate.
The rest of the hero roster will be completed by priests, there will be three kind of priests which can be trained, the first one will be a support like priest which can heal units but will have weak combat stats, he will be able to be trained in age I. In the next ages two warrior priest units can be trained, one of them will be hand combat attack and the other one ranged attack, this warrior priests will have better combat abilities but little support role.
Aztecs will start the game with three villagers one tlatoani and one priest which can be used for exploring.
Aztec titan design has not been decided yet.
The Aztec campaign will tell the story of their pilgrimage and their settlement in the valley of Anáhuac until they consolidated their civilization as the biggest empire of Mesoamerica.
Their main downside is the lack of good and reliable defensive buildings, they will only have one upgrade for walls and towers and will have no fortress.
Overall the Aztecs will possibly have the best attack but the poorest defense in comparison to Mayan and Inca units and buildings.
The Mayans will mainly be an economy and technology civilization, a boom civilization, this focus will be boosted through culture and major God features.
The Mayans will have access to economic and technological features which other cultures don’t have. Their houses, resource drop sites, markets and armories are half price than those of other cultures. They will be able to build farms in the first age and markets from age II, they will also get agricultural and trading boosts. The Mayans will have access in age III to the observatory, a special building which works like AOE II universities, allowing the research of unique Mayan technologies.
Since the Mayans were an older civilization than the Aztecs and Incas and they built lots of great cities, temples and monuments, it is likely they will have wonders available from age III allowing them to achieve victory through wonder an age earlier than other cultures. However, this feature is not decided yet, it can change in the future depending in viability and balancing.
The Mayan favor gathering system has not being decided yet. Historically the Mayans practiced human sacrifices as most of Mesoamerican civilizations, however the Aztecs will have priority in using a war/captives favor system. Most likely the Mayans will get favor by constructing special buildings such as monuments or shrines, an Egyptian way.
Each major god will allow 2 unique heroes in different ages, they will be tough versions of regular units, like the Greek heroes. In order to complete their hero roster, in age III they’ll get access to the Halach Uinik which won’t be elite units, they are fairly cheap and will have a good damage against myth units just like Norse hersirs.
The Mayans unit roaster won’t be as big and specialized as that of the Aztecs or Incas, however their units will be enough to provide a good countering system. Their main focus will be in missile units; bows, blowguns, slings. They will possibly have more missile units than any other culture, and all of their military units will have individual upgrades.
The Mayans will start the game with 4 villagers and 1 oracular priest, a hero unit that will explore the map the same way as Atlantean oracles, he will also be able to carry relics and possibly have a support role like healing or boosting units.
The Mayan will have a fairly good defensive capability, with two upgrades for the walls and towers. Just as the Aztecs they won’t get any fortresses, however, they will have a special watchtower building which will have a good attack and great line of sight, basically a combination of lighthouse and fortress.
The Mayan titan will be based in Cabrakan, the god of mountains and earthquakes.
The Mayan campaign will be based in the adventures of the twin heroes Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué and their fight against the lords of Xibalbá finishing with their conversion as Gods of the sun and the moon.
In general terms, the Mayans will have the best economic and cultural development and good defense, however their military roster won’t be as big and strong as other cultures.
The Incas best strategy will possibly be turtling, since they will have the best defenses. This strategy will be boosted through culture and major God features.
The Incas will be able to fortify themselves since early game as their fortifications will be slightly cheaper and will build faster. They will have three upgrade levels for their walls and three for their towers and they are the only culture with access to fortresses. In addition, they will be able to build a unique defensive building, the Tambo, a relatively cheap and effective small fortress which can be built since age II allowing them to stablish early map control of strategic points and resources.
Inca villagers won’t drop resources in dropping sites, instead they get llamas, which follow them and act as personal resource gathering points just as the Atlantean citizens, however they won’t be as broken, they will be cheaper and will gather slower. They will also have bigger and more expensive houses than those of the Mayans or Aztecs, but they will support twice the population
Another feature to the Incas is the way they gather favor, Inca villagers will gather it by cultivating, that’s right, cultivating, they get a special kind of farm called Conopa. Conopas were farms were the best products were produced and later offered to their gods in special festivities and rituals.
The Inca unit roster will be wide, they will have melee, ranged, runner and noble units. Providing them with an excellent countering system which in addition to their good fortifications will allow to a great tactical flexibility. Inca units will also be cheap but not as strong as say those of the Aztecs, however they will be easy to mass. Incas will also have better armory upgrades than the Mayans and Aztecs allowing to increase their units attack and defense through armory upgrades.
The Incas will also have access to better naval units, they will not only have canoes but also boats with sails which will have better hp and attack values, but they will be more expensive.
The Inca hero system has not been defined yet, but they might have unique elite heroes for each age just as the Greeks.
Incas will start the game with two villagers and one (maybe two) chasquis, which are cheap fast running explorers.
The Inca campaign has not been defined yet.
Overall the Incas will have the best fortifications, so they can play turtle better than other civilizations. However, they won’t be so tight, since they will also have a good unit roaster allowing great tactical flexibility.
The mod is still a project and no release version has been concluded. Currently the mod is being developed by a small team. Applications for new team members are available, preferably with modding experience, however what we value the most is commitment.
Available positions:
• Modeling
• Programming
• Texturing
Applications are available in english or spanish, they should be directed to ABI3 through message or to the email: aom.rotg@gmail.com
They can also be directed to Inferno or ABI3 at their discords: lnferno#8267, ABI3#4496
If you don't have any skills to join the team, no worries, you can also help building the project by becoming a Patreon. Any donation is highly appreciated and helps a lot.
The final release version will be 100% free, patreon donations will be used for creating high quality content, such as hiring artists, composers and producers for producing art, music and other roles which we might not be able to get for free.
Patreons will enjoy exclusive benefits and content such as early access to articles, early beta testing, behind the scenes in discord or even getting amazing artbooks and a mythological and historical atlas.
- Become a Patreon!
Founders: ABI3, Inferno
Art: ABI3
Texturing: ABI3, Inferno
Mapping: HrdsHrdck
Modeling: Inferno, Zero_337
Programming: NateE, TAG
Researching: ABI3, Balam Ajaw, HrdsHrdck
and future teammates
Special thanks to:
• Yan Garcia for his assessment in nahuatl language.
Moddb:
[This message has been edited by ABI3 (edited 03-10-2020 @ 02:07 PM).]
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So I am not going to create SPC Heroes.
